The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 161 Go out for a walk
At Nancheng Police Station, Qi Fei obtained Ye Ming’s lost belongings according to the file number provided by Li Jianjun.

Two shoebox-sized cardboard boxes were filled with notebooks and drawings.

As Wu Shanqiu took it out, she said, "If you didn't tell me that this was a criminal police officer's relic, people would think it belonged to a scientist."

"Ye Ming calculated the tides and ocean currents many times. It seems that he deduced the killing cycle that was finally placed in the lunch box based on this." He flipped through the notebooks that were densely written. The kraft paper covers had curled and pilled, and the handwritten words "Ye Ming" on the covers were faintly visible.

If it were not for the discovery of the old church in Nancheng and the murder cycle left by Ye Ming, it would have been almost impossible for the police officers at the time, including Li Jianjun, to see the connection between this and the Dongji Island case based solely on the clues from Dongji Town.

"Hmm?" When Qi Fei saw the last page, he couldn't help but open the book and take a closer look. The content abruptly ended after the November Dongji Island tide analysis. He could vaguely see the remaining pages of the notebook hidden in the book.

It’s not that Ye Ming didn’t record it completely, but that the content at the back was torn off by him.

A little further away from the table, the greasy aluminum lunch box seemed to be whispering, which only Qi Fei could hear, as if calling him to open the box.

He ran his fingertips over the jagged edge of the notebook's torn pages, lost in thought.

Then he quietly took the lunch box and took out the note with the name "Xu Chunxia" written on it. There were also jagged edges on the side left by tearing. He held it against the torn page, and sure enough, it fit perfectly with one of the pages.

Ye Ming tore off the back of the letter, hid Xu Chunxia's name in the lunch box, and gave it to his most trusted wife. It seemed that Xu Chunxia was more than just a potential victim.

In the sunlight, Qi Fei's hair shone golden. He looked at the page in his hand and asked casually, "How's the search for Xu Chunxia going?"

Upon hearing the name, Wu Shanqiu sighed, "Don't mention it. Old Li is absolutely right. My teammates and I have been looking through the missing persons files from 1983. We've been searching till we're blind, but we still haven't seen the name Xu Chunxia. Brother Fei, to be honest, I'm starting to doubt my life. Maybe Old Ye made a typo? I see there are people named Xu Hongxia and Xu Chunxia among the missing persons, but not Xu Chunxia."

Wu Shanqiu's mumbling voice was in his ears. When Qi Fei closed the notebook, something on the back cover of the notebook caught his attention in the sunlight. It was a drop of spilled red candle oil, and a faint golden luster could be seen in the light.

Qi Fei picked up the notebook and smelled it closely. Although it was very old, he could still smell the faint scent of sandalwood among the moldy smell of the paper. It was as if Zhong Kui's gentle narration about the Da Baoen Temple and the Glazed Pagoda Pearl rang in his ears. In Nancheng in 1983, there were not many temples that were very popular, let alone one that had such a strong connection with this case.

"I'm narrow-minded." Qi Fei murmured.

Wu Shanqiu was confused as she listened: "Brother Fei, what are you talking about?"

"Who said that the dead must appear in our police station's records? What if everyone except Ye Ming thinks she died of natural causes?" Qi Fei said.

(End of this chapter)